Category Archives: running

book reviews, books, running

Book review: Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas (4th edition)

1 Comment

This is a new edition of a book well-known in the running community as among the best available guides to marathon training. The first edition was published in 2001, the second in 2008, and the third in 2019.

That third edition is personally important to me. When I was contemplating running a marathon for the first time, my son gave me the book based on recommendations from the Reddit Advanced Running group. I have read the book multiple times and followed its 18/55 schedule twice, on both occasions achieving my target time, and qualifying for a “good for age” place for the London marathon next year. I regard the book as a key factor in that success.

The new edition follows the same proven structure as its predecessor but with a modernised design, colour photographs (previously all were monochrome), updated elite runner biographies, and updated text and schedules based on the latest research and feedback from readers.

The book is aimed at runners who want not only to run the marathon, but to achieve a good performance. “The runners for whom we wrote this book have goals such as setting a personal best, qualifying for Boston, or running faster than they did 10 years ago,” the authors state.

That does not mean you have to be an elite runner. The schedules (training plans) here are relatively demanding, and therefore require commitment, but the pace you choose as your target for the marathon is up to you. When I first picked up the book I observed that a table in the first chapter (and the same in this edition) lists marathon goal paces from 5:00/mile (3:06/km) to 8:30/mile (5:17/km). Although it is not explicitly stated, this seems a reasonable guide to the range of speeds the authors anticipate, though the book is a good read for anyone who wants to understand marathon training better.

If you expect to complete the marathon in over 4 hours (slower than 9:09/mile or 5:41/km) then the schedules here are likely less suitable for you since the suggested distances may take too long, though the new edition is a little more flexible in this respect.

How to train for a marathon

Training for a marathon is not just about following a schedule. It helps to understand the basics of how to train, as well as other key components such as nutrition and core strength training. There is also the detail of how to run a workout, and what to do when something does not work out because of injury or life getting in the way.

Part 1 of this book is called training components and has the following chapters:

Elements of training: a short but informative summary of what we know about how to train for endurance running. Not much changed in this edition. It’s an excellent simplified guide. If you want to know more try The Science of Running by Steve Magness.

Nutrition and hydration: this is an important and somewhat contentious topic with updates in this edition to increase the suggested amount of carbohydrates you should consume during a run. Some good practical tips on things like how to drink on the run.

Balancing training and recovery: the title of the chapter says it all, training is all about the body adapting to the stress you put on it, and that adaption takes place when you are recovering so this balance is critical. A few changes in this edition such as a discussion of super shoes.

Supplementary training: something I did not know before taking up running is that simply running is not enough to strengthen your muscles for optimum performance. Additional core strength training will make you faster as well as probably reducing injury risk. Quite a few changes in this edition with some different exercises, clearer instructions and new photos. It looks to me as if the new edition has been carefully revised to reflect research in this important area. Do not neglect this; it is a key part of the training.

Advanced marathoning for masters runners: this is interesting to me as I am in this category, but it is not my favourite chapter, partly because it is dispiriting to read about our slower pace and greater injury risk as we age. Another thing is that the older runners in the examples are not that old by some standards, Kate Landau and Roberta Groner in their 40s for example. In the first edition Douglas wrote about running in his 50s; that has been rewritten now as a runner in his 60s which is closer to home for me.

Tapering for peak marathon performance: a great short chapter on a suprisingly complex topic and one for which data is inconclusive. The idea is to get to the start line in peak condition which means reducing workouts enough to remove fatigue, but not so much that you begin to detrain.

Race day strategy: I love this pragmatic chapter about the day itself, how to pace yourself, when to consider dropping out, coping with the psychology of the race and more. Pure gold, not much changed in this edition.

Training schedules

Part 2 of the book contains the training schedules and how to use them. There are a range, based on how long you have to train (18 weeks or 12 weeks) and how many miles per week you can manage (up to 55, 55-70, 70-85, more than 85).

Research shows that higher weekly mileage corresponds well, for most runners, with faster marathon times and lower risk of a severe drop in pace over the last 6 miles. Higher mileage is also more demanding and not to be taken lightly. Personally I have not gone beyond the “up to 55” schedules.

The authors define several types of training runs, these being long runs, medium-long runs (typically run midweek), marathon pace (MP) runs, lactate threshold (LT) runs (faster than MP), general aerobic runs (moderate effort), recovery runs (short easy runs), VO2Max intervals, and speed training (sprints or strides).

That is a lot of variety and the key chapter here is called Following the schedules; I have read it carefully several times! Note that the schedules do not show actual paces but you are guided either by calculating the pace from your MP or by using heart rate; I have chosen the MP approach.

A change in this edition is that the runs are more flexible. For example, the LT runs can now be done as intervals rather than as warm up, LT run, cool down. There is also a little more give in the schedules, such as a run of 8-9 miles instead of simply 9 miles. These changes are mainly aimed at slower runners giving them permission to run a little shorter, though if you always run the maximum distance you would actually run a little further than in the third edition schedules.

There are also schedules for recovery after the marathon, and a chapter on multiple marathons where you want a good time twice over a short period such as 4 or 6 weeks.

I was sorry to see that one of my favourite sections in the multiple marathoning chapter has been removed in this edition. This was called Why multiple marathoning and included the comment, “normal marathoners should check the amount of glass in their houses before throwing stones at multiple marathoners. After all, the bulk of this book has been devoted to detailing how to maximize your chances of success at an activity that the human body isn’t really suited for.”

Space reasons? Too close to the bone? Not sure but I will keep my third edition on the shelf.

The book for you?

This book has worked for me and I recommend it provided that you have the time and commitment for the schedules and with the caveat that it is likely less suitable for those who expect to take over 4 hours.

In general the training here is old-school and not in tune with the current trend towards more low intensity running such as the Norwegian Singles approach. I do not thing there is any consensus on the best approach and every runner is an unique human being so it is hard to declare any particular type of program as best.

My observation though from anecdotal data such as Reddit run reports is that those who follow the schedules in this book, commonly called just “Pfitz”, tend to get good times and avoid common pitfalls like having to walk the last few miles, though not exclusively so. However that could also reflect the fact that the schedules represent a significant commitment, more than many other plans.

Another often recommended book is Daniel’s Running Formula by Jack Daniels. I have this one too and my observation is that Daniels describes the system he devised whereas Advanced Marathoning is a more general approach. Working out how to follow the schedules in the Daniels book is more complex and there is a little less pragmatic advice, though Daniels does have a chapter on treadmill training which Pfitzinger and Douglas hardly mentions. I am sure that excellent results are possible with either book.

Is the book worth it if you have the third edition? The earlier book is not suddenly less good than it was, but things like the revised supplementary training and more flexible schedules are worth having, and the modern design and new elite runner anecdotes are nice to have. It is, after all, a small expense compared to the cost of your running shoes.

Finally, one thing I like about Advanced Marathoning is the concise, pithy writing. There are little comments which I come back to again and again, even while actually running a race. For example, the authors describe the final 6 miles of the marathon, often the most difficult, as “the most rewarding stage of the marathon … this is the stretch that poorly prepared marathoners fear and well-prepared marathoners relish.”

Whether or not you read this book, I hope this is true for you.

Disclosure: if you buy the book from an Amazon link on this page I will get a small commission

running

Broløbet: the bridge run 2025, an amazing experience

“Run across the bridge.” That was the pitch for this unusual run, the bridge in this case being the Øresund Bridge between Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmo, Sweden, on the 25th anniversary of its official dedication in summer 2000. This was the third such run, the first having 79,719 finishers on 12 June 2000, still the world’s largest half marathon; and the second with around 30,000 runners in June 2010. 

Broløbet 2025

Someone in our running club mentioned it early in 2024. The first adventure was signing up; tickets went on sale on 1st February 2024 and sold out 40,000 places in a few hours, with the web site barely functioning under the load. Nevertheless a dozen of us signed up; and 18 months later arrived in Copenhagen, city of parks and bicycles, ready to run.

The run was organized by two running clubs, Sparta Atletik in Denmark and MAI (Malmö Allmänna Idrottsförening) in Sweden. There were expos in both countries, with the Copenhagen one conveniently positioned by Fælledparken parkrun where some of us ran on the Saturday before the race. Bib pickup was as the expo, which was fun with a nameboard showing all the runners, discounted shoes and other goodies. Along with the bib, runners were given a handy folding bag which was required for bag drop.

I had not trained specifically for this run, taking the view that I would still be fit enough following Manchester Marathon at the end of April. In fact my fitness has dropped a bit but not disastrously so. I had signed up for the 1:30 – 1:40 wave and was nervous about completing it in the time but figured this race was more about the experience than chasing a PB (personal best). This put me in the third wave (yellow), starting at 9:50, though bag was to be dropped by 8:45.

Being a get-there-early sort of person, I arrived around 8:00am at which time it was easy to use the facilities and have a wander round; not much to see other than the gathering runners and a stand from sponsor Boozt. Weather was sunny and we had been warned of a warm race so slathered myself with suncream and did my best to hydrate. Organization until this point had been fine but there were a few issues in the start area; not enough portaloos was the biggest problem.

We left the pen shortly after 9:50 as planned. This was not the start though; we were walked around some roads and waited a bit, so Garmin tells me the actual start was 10:26. The course ran through Kastrup and then down into the tunnel that precedes the bridge. It was warm until we entered the tunnel, then nice running conditions in the shade of the tunnel, busy with runners but not too congested. My first miles were the fastest, then it was a gentle uphill out of the tunnel and towards the bridge. As we emerged from the tunnel there was a noticeable headwind but the sky was overcast and it was not as warm as expected, phew!

By the time we got onto the bridge proper it was about half way through the race. Plenty of water stations with drinks in cardboard cartons; quite good for holding though I am not good at drinking much while running. The course did not allow for much in the way of spectators though stationary traffic on the other half of the bridge gave us some honks and cheers. 

The nature of the course is that you have a long gentle climb until you reach the centre of the bridge, and then a long gentle downhill to the finish. I should have been able to speed up more than I did, but not being in peak condition I continued at just over 7:30 mile pace. Coming into Sweden and off the bridge there were spectators and some nice crowd support. Then into the park, past a sign that said “200m to shine”, and a little kick at the end to finish on 1:39:34, just within my start wave prediction, 2895 of 40230 runners, and 6th of 340 in my age group.

The finish area at this point was busy but not too crowded. I received my medal and banana, got a free “selfie” from a Boozt stand, and wandered through the finish field looking for the bag trucks which turned out to be at the far end. Then I returned to the finish in search of friends and family.

Oh dear! I am not sure exactly when things started to go wrong, but the runners finishing at what should have been just under two hours, and later, were not able to run over the line because of congestion. They were forced to walk to the finish, with some complaining of 10-15 minutes wait; frustrating for those aiming to beat 2 hours. The reason was that the immediate finish area was not being cleared of runners fast enough; I remember from Manchester (a mere 30,000 runners) that this needs to be done quite aggressively by marshals otherwise you get exactly this problem.

The situation was worse because there was no segregation in the finish area between runners and general spectators so it was hard to move through the crowd. There should have been a sizeable runner-only area at the finish allowing a clear space to move into after completion.

Another common complaint was lack of signage, particularly to the bag collection area. Bag collection was fine for me; I was served by the same person who picked up my bag first thing in the morning. Later on though things fell apart; the trucks were apparently out of numerical order, bags were strewn around, spectators were allowed into the bag collection area and some thefts were reported.

Worse still was the transport away from the finish. There were coaches both back to Copenhagen, or to the nearest train station at Hyllie. There were no organized queues but lines formed, though with no real clarity as to which line was for which coach, and some ignoring the lines and heading straight for the road side. There were not enough coaches, and it began to be whispered that a collision on the bridge had delayed the Copenhagen coaches. Mobile internet or even voice calls barely worked so communication was poor.

Many of us took what seemed to be the least bad option, a 5KM walk to Hyllie, despite a friend messaging “don’t come to Hyllie” because of overcrowded platforms and lack of sufficient trains. For us, once we got to Hyllie all was well and we stepped straight onto a train to Copenhagen and even got seats.

This was not good though and many of the problems seemed to be avoidable, particularly the organization of the finish area, lack of finish area marshals, lack of communication, and shortage of food and water during the long enforced wait for transport.

Other runners complained about the tunnel section, cool when I ran it, but later on stifling hot from all the runners and the fact that the ventilation was not turned on until too late, apparently because it was noisy.

Of course all these problems soon fade from memory; it was a fantastic run and an unforgettable experience. Nobody knows when or if there will be another bridge run and I am glad to have been part of it.

running

Adidas Manchester Marathon 2025: second marathon and sub 3:30 achieved

This was my second marathon. The first was in October last year and went super well; I targeted 3:45, used the Pfitzinger/Douglas (Pfitz) 18/55 schedule (in the book Advanced Marathoning) for training, and while it was fatiguing I finished in 3:37 and (as I now know) in relatively good shape.

This time around I wanted to beat 3:30 and repeated Pfitz 18/55 but with faster pace. Training went well overall, no major injuries, and I mostly hit the workout paces though I find what he calls the V̇O2 Max sessions difficult to achieve; these are the most demanding sessions intended to improve one’s maximum rate of oxygen consumption during running.

Before the race

Got to Manchester Saturday afternoon, didn’t get to run at all though Pfitz schedules a 4 mile recovery run saying it is mainly there to keep you from fretting. Difficult to carb load when travelling but I did my best with a big bowl of cereal for breakfast followed by a bacon roll later, packed lunch with chunky cheese sandwiches and fresh fruit, then I consumed a mid-afternoon Ploughmans with a fruit smoothie and in the evening, a delicious goats cheese flatbread. I also drank loads of water, not sure exactly how much but several pints during the day. I think this did help as I was well hydrated before the race.

Set the alarm for 5:30am not that I needed to; didn’t sleep brilliantly. Cup of tea and sourdough roll early (Pfitz suggests eating 3-4 hours before running), more water. Then I headed for the start on the first tram from my hotel at about 6:25; no reason to be so early except that I didn’t have anything else to do! Always enjoy chatting with other runners and their supporters.

My first marathon had fewer than 1000 runners, this one claimed 36,000 though I am sure the actual number was a bit less. All a bit different though. Arrived Old Trafford tram stop, 10 minute walk to the start area. Dropped my bag at around 8:00am and was a little cold in my club vest, did some half-hearted short warm-up runs and took advantage of the portaloos. This was a success actually, the benefit of the early start meant that I had plenty of time to get ready as it were and had zero GI issues during the race.

I was in bronze wave which was the fifth to start after Elite, White, Red and Blue. Each wave had I gather up to 1800 runners which is biggish and I found myself towards the back of the wave for some reason. This didn’t matter as such, but the 3:30 pacers were towards the front and it wasn’t possible therefore to start with them. More on this later.

The Race

Off we go and I am trying to go no faster then a 7:45 pace (all my figures are in miles) and no slower than 8:00. Some congestion but it went fairly well and the miles started ticking by. Took an energy gel at the start and another 4 miles in. Skipped the first water station, grabbed a bottle at the second, but found drinking quite hard while running, I have learned that I can’t take a big gulp as it can easily turn into a coughing fit. Did my best; at least with the bottles you can carry them for a bit and take occasional sips.

After maybe 6 miles (can’t remember exactly), I catch up with a 3:30 pacer (there were two) and had a chat. Now, I knew from my Garmin that I was on target for sub-3:30 but of course having started at the back of the wave the pacers were a little in front. It was tricky though; the guy said he was currently running ahead of pace because he had a bathroom break and was now catching up with the other pacer. So I didn’t want to keep pace with him as it would be too fast. Off he went into the distance.

At the half-way point I finally caught up with the other 3:30 pacer. This was odd because he was now quite a way behind first guy. I asked about this and he said his fellow pacer was more than a minute ahead of time. He also said he was a bit ahead, and his plan was to to slow down at 26 miles and then wave people past to get their time. I concluded that my best strategy was to try and stay ahead of him.

I was more fatigued at this point than I was when half-way in October but there were two good reasons for that. One was that my pace was about 7:54/mile versus 8:16 or so in October. The other was the heat; we were running in up to 20 degrees Celsius and bright sunshine whereas October was overcast with occasional light rain and much cooler (I don’t know the exact temperature).

Another thought: for this event I trained in the cool of the winter and then ran in relatively warm conditions; where last time I trained in the heat of the summer and then ran in relatively cool conditions – an easier transition!

Anyway I was keen to get to 20 miles as Pfitz calls 13-20 the “no-mans land of the marathon” when you can easily lose pace. Kept the pace fairly well and was helped by the pacer because if he appeared beside me I knew I had to run faster!

Got to 20 miles and by this time I was seriously fatigued. I took my first carb-packed SIS beta fuel at this point and told myself it would help me to keep going.

The last 6 miles were tough. I can’t say I hit the wall; I lost a little pace but it wasn’t terrible – my slowest mile according to Garmin was mile 24 at 8:04 pace. Heat was getting to me, really needed water at the last drink station. It was difficult to drink enough, but poured the rest over my head, great idea and I should have done this before.

It is hard to describe the mental battle that was taking place in those last miles. I told myself to just keep running even though I no longer had the energy for it. I told myself to run fast so that the ordeal would be over quicker. I thought of my family and friends tracking me and did not want to disappoint them. And again, if the 3:30 pacer appeared, I did my best to run faster (and in the end, I did finish ahead of him, but a few seconds behind the other 3:30 pacer).

The crowd at Manchester was fantastic and it was great to hear all the shouts of encouragement including my name from time to time (name were shown on the bibs). I also passed plenty of runners walking and told myself that I would not do that. Just one parkrun to go. Just two miles to go. Then there is a sign that says “welcome to the finish straight,” great news but I did not have it in me to up the pace. Kept running, tried to smile for the camera, crossed the line, and then there was a weird moment: is it really OK to slow down now?

I was pretty sure that I had beaten 3:30 but did not get the exact time until later (not carrying a phone). 3:27:46, a personal best by over 9 minutes and a good for age for London next year I hope, with over 24 minutes below the required time (V65 M).

After the ordeal

Finishing a marathon can be anti-climactic. I felt good about my time but also very fatigued, and the first thing you do after finishing at a big event like this is quite a lot of walking, since the organisers have to keep the finish area clear. So picked up a bottle of water (good thinking!), walked to medal area, picked up tasty non-alcoholic tin of beer (chilled! Nice), walked to picked up bag, quite a long way with several lorries for each start wave, then walked to T-shirt area, then you come out of the finish area and eventually to a sign that says Piccadilly Station 14 mins walk, my hotel was near there so I just plodded on, eventually sitting down to a lovely latish lunch there with a cold beer and some fellow finishers.

I can’t really fault the organization, the start was smooth and on time, the facilities were good, the medal is nice, all very professional, but there is inevitably a lot of standing around at the start and walking at the end.

The pacers worked hard but were not ideal for me. I would prefer that they ran closer together and with even splits, though they did finish pretty much on the button.

While I was happy with my time it was actually slower than the 3:19 VDOT predicted from my best half in February; I think this shows the impact of the heat as my effort was as great or greater.

Despite piling on the suncream I caught the sun in a few spots, my advice if you are running this summer is don’t forget the back of your legs and all round your arms as that is where I went wrong. Wore a cap which I do think helped.

Finally, kudos to the Pfitz plan and book which got me through again without any calamities, such a great resource.

ai, gadgets, hardware, running, tech

Garmin Connect+: new subscription will be a hard sell

Garmin, makers of sports watches which gather health and performance data on your activities, has announced Connect+, a subscription offering with “premium features and more personalised insights.”

Garmin Connect+

Garmin Connect is the cloud-based application that stores and manages user data, such as the route, pace and heart rate, on runs, cycle rides and other workouts, as well as providing a user interface which lets you browse and analyse this data. The mobile app is a slightly cut-down version of the web app. Until now, this service has been free to all customers of Garmin wearable devices.

The company stated that Garmin Connect+ is a “premium plan that provides new features and even more personalized insights … with Active Intelligence insights powered by AI.” It also promised customers that “all existing features and data in Garmin Connect will remain free.” The subscription costs $6.99 per month or $69.99 per year. UK price is £6.99 per month or £69.99 per year which is a bit more expensive.

The reaction from Garmin’s considerable community has been largely negative. The Garmin forum on Reddit which has over 266,000 members is full of complaints, not only because the subscription is considered poor value but also from fear that despite the company’s reassurance the free Garmin Connect service will get worse, perhaps becoming ad-laden or just less useful as all the investment in improvements is switched to the premium version.

On the official Garmin forums an initial thread filled quickly with complaints and was locked; and a new thread is going in the same direction. For example:

“I paid £800 for my Descent Mk2s with the understanding that there WAS NO SUBSCRIPTION and the high cost of my device subsidised the Connect platform. The mere existence of the paid platform is a clear sign that all/most new features will go to the paid version and the base platform will get nothing. You’ve broken all trust here Garmin, I was waiting for the next Descent to upgrade but I will look elsewhere now.”

A few observations:

  1. Companies love subscriptions because they give a near-guaranteed and continuous revenue stream.
  2. The subscription model combined with hardware can have a strange and generally negative impact on the customer, with the obvious example being printers where selling ink has proved more profitable than selling printers, to the point where some printers are designed with deliberately small-capacity cartridges and sold cheaply; the sale of the hardware can also be seen as the purchase of an income stream from ink sales.
  3. A Garmin wearable is a cloud-connected device and is inconvenient to use without the cloud service behind it. For example, I am a runner with a Garmin watch; when I add a training schedule I do so in the Connect web application, which then syncs with the watch so that while I am training the watch tells me how I am doing, too fast, too slow, heart rate higher than planned, and so on. That service costs money to provide so it may seem reasonable for Garmin to charge for it.
  4. The counter-argument is that customers have purchased Garmin devices, which are more expensive than similar hardware from other vendors, in part on the basis that they include a high quality cloud service for no additional cost. Such customers now feel let down.
  5. We need to think about how the subscription changes the incentives for the company. The business model until now has included the idea that more expensive watches light up different data-driven features. Sometimes these features depend on hardware sensors that only exist in the premium devices, but sometimes it is just that the device operating system is deliberately crippled on the cheaper models. Adding the subscription element to the mix gives Garmin an incentive to improve the premium cloud service to add features, rather than improving the hardware and on-device software.
  6. It follows from this that owners of the cheapest Garmin watches will get the least value from the subscription, because their hardware does not support as many features. Will the company now aim to sell watches with hitherto premium features more cheaply, to improve the value of the subscription? Or will it be more concerned to preserve the premium features of its more expensive devices to justify their higher price?
  7. It was predictable that breaking this news would be difficult: it is informing customers that a service that was previously completely free will now have a freemium model. The promise that existing free features would remain free has done little to reassure users, who assume either that this promise will not be kept, or that the free version will become gradually worse in comparison with the paid option. Could the company have handled this better? More engagement with users would perhaps help.

Finally, it seems to me that Connect+ will be a hard sell, for two reasons. First, Strava has already largely captured the social connection aspect of this type of service, and many Garmin users primarily use Strava as a result. Remarkably, even the free Strava is ad-free (other than for prompts to subscribe) and quite feature-rich. Few will want to subscribe both to Strava and Connect+, and Strava is likely to win this one.

Second, the AI aspect (which is expensive for the provider) has yet to prove its worth. From what I have seen, Strava’s Athlete Intelligence mostly provides banal feedback that offers no in-depth insight.

While one understands the reasons which are driving Garmin towards a subscription model, it has also given the company a tricky path to navigate.

book reviews, books, reviews, running

Out of Thin Air by Michael Crawley: a wonderful read

This is perhaps my favourite book on running, and I have read quite a few. The title is a play on words. The author lists two meanings, though I can find three.

Cover of Out of Thin Air by Michael Crawley

The first is that running has a mystique; “athletes who fly in, astound us with barely comprehensible feats of speed and endurance, and then vanish again into thin air,” Crawley writes.

The second and most important is that western media has tended to assume that “the performances of elite Ethiopian, Kenyan and Ugandan runners are produced almost directly ‘out of thin air’,” the reason being genetic traits or natural giftedness. This is patronising and wrong, and “masks the years of preparation and sacrifice that have gone into creating this illusion,” Crawley says, as well as the fact that the support of the Ethiopian state for running is “far superior” to that in the UK.

The third is that Ethiopians train at high altitude. The thin air has benefits, encouraging the body to adapt by creating more red blood cells, more blood vessels in the muscles, deeper breathing. Therefore running performance improves out of thin air.

It is timely that I write this Ethopia’s Tadese Takele has just won the men’s 2025 Tokyo marathon held on 2nd March, with a time of 2:03:23, and Ethiopia’s Sutume Asefa Kebede has won the women’s 2025 Tokyo marathon with a time of 2:16:31.

Crawley has two advantages over most others in writing this book. First, he is an outstanding runner. In 2018 he ran the Frankfurt Marathon in 2:20:53, putting him in the top 0.1% of runners, placing him 1084th best in the world for the marathon at the time, according to his world athletics ranking.

Second, he is an academic, an anthropologist who is an assistant professor at the University of Durham.

These two factors meant that when he went to Ethiopia between 2015 to 2016 to train with some of the country’s top runners, he both won the respect of the other athletes, and also brought with him unusual skills of observation.

The consequence is that as readers we become immersed in both the training and the life stories of the athletes. I have read other books about running in Africa but none has offered the same sense of being there as this one.

We learn about about what dedication to training means in this context; that the prize money for winning or placing high in major events is transformative and a big incentive for these runners; that training together with others is not just a matter of being in the same group but a deep connection of shared energy; that running on asphalt is the hardest kind of running and that natural surfaces are much preferred for training; that mixing different kinds of training, such as speed and terrain, even within a single session, is vital for progression; and that the transition from running well in training to performing in a foreign race is a difficult one that not everyone can manage.

There is much more and I felt a sense of loss when finishing the book. I look forward to reading it again.

Out of Thin Air is available from Amazon or from your favourite bookshop.

running

AWS 5k re:Invent 2024 results

Yes I ran it again. It is a lot of fun but still very strange. Chip-timed but no results published! Well, they are published but hidden. Here they are:

https://www.athlinks.com/event/391331/results/Event/1097603/Course/2542986/Results

Note that nobody is named.

The leaflet that comes with the bib for the race says to use the QR code on the bib to view your results. That takes you to Girls on the Run Las Vegas who are receiving a donation thanks to the race. That’s great but I could not see the results there – there is a link to a 5K but it is not the AWS one.

Congratulations to 529 who was top with a time of 16:54. As for me, I was 136th – not bad out of 1089 and an improvement on last year by 36s.

AWS did provide finishers with a nice medal, a pair of socks, and a polaroid snap – how retro!

running, Uncategorized

My journey to a first marathon

Note: this is a rather personal post and probably not interesting for most people.

2023 was a year of running for me but what next? For runners the marathon always beckons; the most famous races in the running calendar are marathons (London, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, New York and Tokyo) and I felt that if I was ever going to run one, it should be soon as I am an older runner.

In 2023 I ran two half marathons but I knew that a marathon was a much harder challenge. In February 2024 I signed up for the Abingdon Marathon, 20th October 2024. I chose Abingdon because it was flat, and somewhat familiar as I grew up near there and it was my late grandmother’s home.

My son gave me a book called Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas and known affectionately as Pfitz in the running community. The preface says, “the runners for whom we wrote this book have goals such as setting a personal best, qualifying for Boston, or running faster than they did 10 years ago.” A bit ambitious for me but then again, I did want to run London one day and “good for age” looked like my best bet for getting in.

The book was excellent for me because it is science-based and the rationale for everything in it is explained in matter of fact terms. There are many ways to train for a marathon and our knowledge of how best to do it continues to evolve; but the schedules in this book are well proven. I picked the easiest training schedule which is called 18/55: an 18 week schedule in the which the maximum miles per week is 55. I counted back from my marathon date and put the mid-June starting week in my diary.

I had to pick a target pace since the schedule paces are derived from this. There were two factors. One, what was I capable of doing. Two, what did I need for London. I picked 8:30 per mile; somewhat arbitrary but I hoped it would work on both counts.

In a table of “sample long-run paces” on page 14 of the book, 8:30 is the slowest pace given for “marathon goal pace.” I felt therefore that I was picking the slowest pace which the authors felt was in scope for the book, though this is not explicit.

Incidentally I switched mentally from per KM pace to per mile pace because this book and many other marathon training guides and discussions primarily use per mile paces. The KM equivalent is always given but there is a bit of friction. I also came to prefer using the longer distance for my mental segments.

Note that you are not meant to start even the 18 week schedule from scratch. “These schedules are challenging right from the start and get harder as your marathon approaches,” say the authors. You need to be in what one might call half marathon fitness before you start.

Following the schedule

Although the schedule is 18/55 most weeks are fewer than 55 miles. The mean is about 40.5 miles. It is still a big commitment. Let’s say one averages about a 9:30 pace in the training; that is about 6:45 hours running per week, spread over 5 training sessions. Add on a bit of time for changing and showering and it is a lot to fit around a working week, and demanding for family and friends too.

When I trained for a half marathon I did so quite informally. A long run on Sunday and a daily jog, including parkrun on Saturday. I was sufficiently scared of the marathon that I decided to follow the schedule as closely as I could.

That said, I did not follow it exactly. For one thing, I carried on with parkrun and mostly ignored what the schedule offered for Saturdays. Second, I had races scheduled and these conflicted with the Sunday long runs. I worked around this either by adding a second run after the race (since the races were shorter than the scheduled long runs), or sometimes I just treated the race as the long run.

I did make sure to include four key long runs in the schedule. These were three 20 mile runs, and an 18 mile run with 14 miles at marathon pace. For most of these runs I actually did a bit more than the scheduled distance; it is quite hard to do them exactly unless you do the same route out and back and turn back home at half way. I preferred to do circular routes and in practice my longest run was between 22 and 23 miles.

I entered all the training runs as workouts on my Garmin. My “execution score” which measures how well I conformed to the scheduled pace was typically poor. One reason is that I live in a hilly area and it is hard to keep a pace. Second, I found it difficult to run slow enough for the recovery, warm up and cool down sections. Third, I found it hard to make the target pace especially early on in the training.

It sounds cruel, but the training runs often have you running at the fastest pace at the end of the run. The Pfitz “marathon pace” sessions for example get you to run say 5 miles at easy pace then 8 miles at marathon pace. The idea is to adapt your body to be able to maintain the pace when fatigued.

I was fortunate not to suffer much illness during the period. I picked up a bug when on holiday in July. I had to stop training for a few days but then resumed.

Core strength training and avoiding injury

Having suffered from plantar fasciitis and a second foot injury I was conscious of the risk during intensive training. There is a chapter in the Pfitz book called supplementary training and I regarded this as equally important as the training schedule. The reason is simple: if you do not do the core strength training you are likely to get injured, and if injured, you cannot train. A further benefit is that the strength training directly improves your running.

I followed the section called Core stability training and combined the exercises with others I had discovered, developing a workout that took around 40 minutes to complete, and doing this most days.

I did not experience any major issues with feet, calves or hamstrings during the training or indeed during the race and I feel that this is thanks to this exercise programme.

Tapering

The taper period in my schedule was the last three weeks. 20 mile run on the Sunday before, then a gradual reduction in mileage. Taper is known to be a difficult time and I had some little issues. One is that I had booked a half marathon race two weeks before, when the schedule said to do a 17 mile long run. I decided to run the half marathon as a training run, not at race pace.

The coach at my running club supported this, telling me an anecdote about a woman who missed qualifying for the commonwealth games after winning a half marathon two weeks before the marathon at which selection was decided. Her rival came second in the half, but won the second race and was duly selected.

I did not doubt the quality of the advice and started determined to run no faster than 8:15 per mile. With the race atmosphere and amongst the other runners I found myself running at 7:58. I slowed a little and did the second mile at 8:01. Then I was keeping pace with a friend from my club and chatting. He pulled ahead of me and I could not help myself, I stayed with him, then a few miles later passed in front. Mile 7 I did at 7:12. In the end I finished in 1:39:43 which was a half marathon PB for me – but what about the taper? What about my lack of self discipline?

After that I followed the taper schedule religiously, even skipping parkrun 8 days before the marathon because it was designated a rest day. It was a big change for me though, after 16 weeks of hard running. It felt like losing fitness.

In the week before the race, there was another issue. Weather. The forecast for 20th October was rain and strong winds, gusting up to 40 mph or so. The Great South Run in Portsmouth, scheduled for the same day, was cancelled. People signed up for Abingdon or the Yorkshire marathon (again same day) posted on Reddit about how to run in bad weather. It was hard not to be anxious. Perhaps the event would be called off, and all my training in vain. Perhaps a howling gale would make getting a good time impossible.

In the event, the weather was poor but not as bad as predicted. Phew.

The race

I did my best not to leave anything to chance. The day before, I ate a big spaghetti lunch before heading to the race hotel in Abingdon. Then a light evening meal with no alcohol, just a big glass of orange juice. On the morning, I got up at 6.00am and ate two bread rolls with jam. The idea is to go into the race well stocked up with the right kind of nutrition and well hydrated, but not to have toilet issues. Therefore one has breakfast three hours before the race.

I decided to run with minimum baggage. This meant leaving my smartphone behind, relying on the drink stations for water, and carrying only gels. I had running shorts with two deep pockets in which I stuffed 7 SIS isotonic gels, the same ones I had used in training – following the principle, nothing new on race day.

The course starts on the race track at Tilsley Park to the north of Abingdon. I arrived at about 7:45am and had a look round. It was somewhat bleak and the inflatable start/finish arch was not yet pumped up.

Tilsley park two hours before the start of Abingdon Marathon 2024

The venue was well organised though and complete with changing rooms. There was light rain but no gales. I got ready, and chatted to some of the other runners. The time slipped away; I had intended to do a short warm-up jog but a long queue for the bag drop meant I ran out of time. Headed to the track at around 8:45am; the sound system was not working very well and it was hard to hear the pre-race brief. The runners intending to finish in under 2:30 were encouraged to start near the front but any plans to sort other runners into pace groups seemed to be abandoned.

A few minutes later we were off. It is hard to describe but this was an emotional moment. I realise I am only a mid-pack club runner but 18 weeks intensive training leading up to this made it a big deal for me.

There was a little bit of congestion but this was a smallish race (fewer than 1000 runners in the end, some who had booked perhaps did not turn up because of the weather forecast) and it was not a big problem.

It did feel odd trying not to run too fast. Sam Murphy writes in her book Run your best marathon:

Research has shown that when marathon runners begin the race at a pace that is just 2 per cent quicker than their practised goal pace, they flounder over the final 6 miles. The reason this advice is so often repeated is because it is so rarely heeded.

Running a race induces something similar to flight or fight response where the stress of the occasion enables the body to out-perform. The race atmosphere and one’s determination to do a good time drives you to run as fast as you can; yet one knows that holding back is vital. It is a mental battle. “This feels peculiar, trying not to run too fast” I said to another runner and we chatted. A side-effect of deliberately slowing your pace is that you have more breath for talking.

But what was my target pace? I set it originally at 8:30. Calculators like VDOT said that based on my half marathon two weeks before, I could do 7:55 but I felt that was risky and over-optimistic. Nevertheless I had decided to try and go a bit faster than 8:30. I kept a close eye on my Garmin. If the pace went up above 8:15 I consciously slowed down. If it went below 8:30 I tried to speed up.

The race begins with a run east and then south into Abingdon. At about 5 miles I passed the house where my grandmother used to live, in the beautiful old town.

5 miles in, running past the house where my grandmother used to live in East St Helen’s St, Abingdon

Then you run out of town, and start a two-lap section where you run through a village, on into Milton business park, and back through a pretty village called Sutton Courtenay (where Eric Blair, also known as George Orwell, is buried).

The first 10 miles were a breeze. I chatted to another runner who said he was targeting a similar time to mine, around 3:40. Had he run a marathon before? Oh yes, he ran Manchester marathon in April in 3:18. You will be well ahead of me then, I said; but he thought he had not kept up his fitness. We ran together for bit, then he went ahead as expected. However he told me that I looked fit which was nice of him!

As it turned out I met him again in the latter part of the race and ended up finishing a minute or two ahead.

During the two lap section you see mile signs for the second lap as well as the first; that is, you see a sign for 16 when you are really on mile 8 etc. I do not know if this was part of the reason but miles 10 to 13 seemed to take ages and I was beginning to feel a bit of fatigue. I was keen to get half way, telling myself that it was downhill after that.

Mile 13 appeared eventually and I entered what Pfitz calls the “no-mans land of the marathon. You’re already fairly tired and still have a long way to go.” The book says that this is where you can easily lose pace; but I did not. The reason was that I was keen to pass 20 miles – the moment at which, some say, the marathon really begins.

I am not sure what it is about 20 miles but it is the point at which many runners find themselves having to slow down. Often they say they “hit the wall” though what runners mean by this varies. Sometimes it means literally being unable to run any further, more often it means losing pace or entering a run/walk phase.

Pfitz brilliantly calls the last 6 miles “the most rewarding part of the marathon … this is when your long runs, during which you worked hard over the last stages, will really pay off. Now, you’re free to see what you’ve got … this is the the stretch that poorly prepared marathoners fear and well prepared marathoners relish.”

I think this is brilliant because it sets you up mentally to look forward to the last 6 miles, if you have followed one of the book’s schedules, making it less likely that your pace will fail.

In my case mile 22 was my fastest mile, the only one under 8:00 according to the Garmin. In general though, while I did not really speed up, I did not slow down either.

The last two miles though were tough. I was extremely fatigued. Then again, I knew I was within reach of my goal time and determined not to stop now. I was also concentrating on not falling over. The Abingdon marathon is run mostly on open roads and you have to move between road and pavement, it would be easy to trip over a kerb when fatigued and your running form is slipping.

I passed the 25 mile sign. Then I was on a half-closed road and the marshalls were saying “not far now.” I entered Tilsley Park and then back onto the track. 600m to go. Tried to put in a little burst of speed at the end though there was nobody to overtake, or trying to overtake me. Then it was done, and a boy scout apologetically handed me my medal, not being tall enough to reach up and place it around my neck.

The finish

I placed 485 out of 995 finishers, and was 14th out of 44 in my age group 60-69. My time was 3:37:16 which is a pace of 8:18 per mile; however I feel a sense of achievement which is out of proportion to the actual result.

It may also be true that keeping pace right to the end means that I could have gone faster; it is difficult to know but perhaps, next time, I will risk holding back a little bit less in the early miles.

book reviews, running

Running book review: The Art of Running Faster by Julian Goater and Don Melvin

I have mixed feelings about this book, first published in 2012. Most runners want to run faster. But how? Julian Goater, 1981 National Cross Country champion, shares his insights in this title. 

With a mixture of anecdote and specific training advice, he expands on six components of fitness: speed, suppleness, strength, stamina, skill and psychology. Some of his advice is uncontentious: do core strength training, for example, and do different types of training sessions including fartleks (short bursts of speed within a run), intervals, long runs and recovery runs. He is a enthusiast for cross country because “it gives you all-over, full-body fitness and resilience that will help you enormously when you run on quicker surfaces.”

All the above makes sense to me, but I am less sure about his advocacy of training twice a day. “To fit in the variety of training sessions you need, run twice a day most days,” he writes. This is not to get in more mileage overall, but more variety of short sessions.

Goater’s overall philosophy seems to me well summarised in a quote he references from Olympic gold medalist Sebastian Coe: “I’ve always felt that long, slow distance produces long, slow runners.” Goater feels that runners all too often get in plenty of miles but get too comfortable running at a steady pace and do not do enough speed work; and speed work, he says, must be above race pace otherwise it is useless. In fact it must be well above race pace. “To be effective, even your slowest speedwork should be done faster than your best pace for the distance below the one you are aiming for. If you are training for 10K, run your long sustained-speed repetitions at a faster pace than you can sustain for 5K,” he writes.

The author also states that “ideally, at least 80 percent of your running should be done at a comfortable cruising pace – but not just jogging.”  So he is not recommending speedwork above all else.

I did enjoy the book and especially Goater’s recollections of Coe, David Bedford, Steve Cram and other runners of his day. I think it could help me to run faster, if only thanks to his insistence on purposeful training and encouragement to put in more effort.

That said, I note the lack of references to scientific studies of the impact of different types of training. Rather, Goater relies on his own experience as a runner and a coach. 

A good book, but best read alongside other more rigorous training guides.

The Art of Running Faster by Julian Goater an Don Melvin (ISBN 978-0-7360-9550-1)

book reviews, running

Running book review: Run your best Marathon by Sam Murphy

I like this book and recommend it, perhaps even for those not intending to run a marathon, or not yet.

Murphy is a runner and journalist, and takes the trouble to explain the science and to back up her statements with references to credible research. This is important because there are a surprising (to me) number of unresolved questions for those who want to optimize their running. Stretching, for example, before or after a run. “I’ve yet to find any evidence that stretching – of any kind – actually makes you run faster,” says Murphy. Does it reduce injury? “No clear effect,” she writes; but adds that there is evidence that if you think it helps, it does.

I would still call this matter of stretching unresolved. Julian Goater and Don Melvin, in their 2012 book The Art of Running Faster, have an entire chapter on the subject and say that “You do need to stretch – regularly … in my experience regular stretching is the key to avoiding injury.”

Murphy also has a down-to-earth section on how to choose trainers. “Many of the claims made about how shoes can protect or correct your feet are exaggerated or just plain wrong,” Murphy writes, with reference to research. She does confirm though that those super expensive carbon-fibre plate shoes are faster, but also notes some downsides. Comfort is the most important thing, she feels. I also like this great tip: when buying shoes, take out the insoles and stand on them. “Your whole foot should be within the boundary of the insole,” she says, otherwise you will have cramping which can be a disaster (it was for me).

The book takes the reader through the art and science of training, and then offers a set of training plans. She categorizes the plans as full throttle (training five days a week), steady state (mostly four days a week) and minimalist (mostly three days a week). In each category there are plans for experienced, and first timer. Runs are described as easy, tempo, marathon pace and so on; but you have to work out the exact pacing yourself, for which there is extensive guidance, as this depends on your capabilities and targets. 

These schedules are not as demanding as those in the classic book Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas, nor is Murphy’s book as technical. Experienced runners would likely benefit more from the Pfitzinger and Douglas book; yet having read both, I still found Run your best Marathon useful.

Where this title wins though is in its approachability, down to earth style, and coverage of those small details which experienced runners seem just to know, but rarely explain. This is especially true in the second half of the book, about practicalities, body maintenance, how to choose a race, and nutrition/hydration. There is advice on exactly what to eat and drink, and how much, even down to tips like how to drink while running, without choking or coughing. There is also a complete checklist of what you might need for race day, though I am not sure about the bin liner she suggests for keeping dry before the race!

The book is very approachable and especially suitable for those contemplating their first marathon (as I am). Much of it applies to other distances as well, certainly longer runs of 10 miles or more, and there is so much general running advice that it may be worth a read even for those who have no intention of subjecting their bodies to a gruelling 26.2 mile race.

Run your best Marathon by Sam Murphy (Bloomsbury, ISBN 978-1-4729-8952-9)

book reviews, running

Running book review: The Race against Time by Richard Askwith

I picked up this book, sub-titled “Adventures in late-life running”, because it seemed a good fit for my own situation, having taken up running as I approach retirement age.

It is not quite what I expected. Askwith’s first love is fell running, which he used to do intensively when younger. He recounts in the first chapter how he returned for a reunion fell run, now in his early sixties, and his reflections on the toll of age on his performance and that of his friends. 12 of them came for the reunion but only 4 actually ran, the others declaring themselves unfit for more than walks and socialising.

What we get in the subsequent chapters is a series of portraits of older runners, most much older than their sixties, backed up with interviews: why do they run in old age, how do they train, what is their story?

There are also interviews with experts on the subject of old age and fitness, and the whole book is punctuated with Askwith’s reflections on aging, mortality, and a few of his own recent experiences of running.

Curiously this is a book which I enjoyed less as it went on. Askwith’s constant self-deprecation becomes tiresome, and he seems almost unaware of the frustrating contradictions which he presents. How much should you train? Not too much and focus on HIIT (high intensity interval training) according to an interview with Peter Herbert. – you can read more about his approach here. Yet we also hear from the amazing Tommy Hughes a world record (for age) marathon runner and how he runs 20 miles a day in training. Or by contrast Angela Copson, who according to the book hardly trained at all for the 2007 London Marathon, other than running alongside her husband riding a bike, but achieved under four hours as a sixty year old woman.

It is all fairly confusing if you come to the book looking for advice on how to run well as an older person; and in fact you should look elsewhere for that kind of advice.

On the other hand, Askwith does put in the hard work of going out and interviewing numerous interesting older runners and for that, the book is well worth a read.

https://amzn.to/3LGn44d